The objective of this project was to develop a fundamental understanding of the fast dynamical processes involved in energetic material (EM) initiation, ignition and detonation, using state-of-the-art experimental techniques based on time-resolved laser spectroscopy, developed in the Dlott laboratory. The motivation for our project was to look at some of the most fundamental processes occurring on short length and time scales, say picoseconds and nanometers. Current understanding of these processes comes mainly from theories and atomistic simulations, and there is a lack of data needed to understand whether these theories and simulations give an accurate picture. To this end, workers in the Dlott group devised a number of experiments that look at EM when large amounts of vibrational energy are suddenly input, at the earliest (picosecond) stages of shock compression when the molecules are just beginning to feel the shock, when ultrafast flash-heating suddenly inputs large amounts of heat, and at the second (nanosecond) stages of shock compression when materials experience large strain deformation and molecules have had time to react exothermically. Development of advanced lasers in the Dlott group also led to a spin-off project to study electrocatalytic conversion of CO2 to CO, needed for economic production of synfuels.

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews